Art for me starts with life itself, not just on the paper.
Meet Melinda
Melinda is an artist working from her home studio in Penang, Malaysia. With a love of colour and a sense of playfulness, she creates paintings inspired by places she has lived in, visited, and remembered, as well as paintings inspired by Scripture.
Melinda began pursuing art more seriously in 2021, and her work has since found homes in Malaysia, Portugal, France, and beyond.
Her paintings usually begin with the first brushstroke on paper. She seldom draws much before painting, choosing instead to work with looseness and intuition.
Through my paintings of places, I seek to capture memories and share the beauty of the world through my lens. While these paintings are rooted in my own experiences of places I have lived in, visited, and remembered, I hope they also evoke your own memories and moments.
I also create paintings inspired by Scripture. My hope is that they bring encouragement and serve as visual reminders of the unshakable hope we have in God.
I paint mostly with acrylic gouache, though I incorporate other mediums when the creative vision calls for it. My earlier works in 2021 were intricate line drawings, but as I loosened up, I began exploring freer brushstrokes and a more intuitive way of making art.
Here's my story
As the only child in the family with no siblings to play with, my late mother would buy me books to read and art books to keep me occupied.
Coming from the maternal side of the family where different ones would paint, draw, play the guitar, sew, and do arts & crafts—I didn’t realise I was being nurtured by this creative environment.
Though always drawn to art and words, I ignored this artistic path, and chose safer careers for over two decades.
It was when I went through a tough period in my life: family, health, and work, that I found solace through writing, drawing and painting. And with life’s inevitable ups and downs, I continue to find rest and connection through making art.